Rob Goldstone Says He Assumed Russian Intelligence Was Behind Trump Tower Meeting

Music promote Rob Goldstone was an intermediary for a meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer who promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Image by facebook
The British music producer responsible for organizing the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Trump campaign officials and a Russian lawyer said he assumed Russian intelligence was behind it, NBC News reported.
Rob Goldstone suggested it was the Trump campaign’s eagerness for dirt on Hillary Clinton that captured the attention of special counsel Robert Mueller.
Goldstone’s recollection is in line with his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, revealed by The Daily Beast in May, as well as that of others. He had written an email to Donald Trump Jr. explaining that the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, had information that “would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father,” and that it was “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”
Goldstone said he was asked to relay the message and set up the meeting by Russian pop star Emin Agalarov, on behalf his father Aras, one of Russia’s wealthiest developers.
Goldstone said he wrote the email in three minutes on his cell phone using the little information he was given “with my own, I suppose, way of interpreting what I believe my client was trying to get across, and puffing it.”
“That’s what I do,” he added. “I’m a publicist.”
He explained that he assumed but didn’t know if the Russian government was behind setting up the meeting.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion My Jewish moms group ousted me because I work for J Street. Is this what communal life has come to?
- 2
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 3
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 4
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Dozens of members of UK’s largest Jewish group sign letter condemning war in Gaza
-
Culture Actor Ben Platt says his Jewish identity is ‘not defined’ by Israel, showing a gap between him and his influential family
-
Fast Forward Shapiro house fire suspect targeted Jewish governor over pro-Israel stances, search warrant says
-
Fast Forward Jewish family killed in New York plane crash
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.